But back on the topic---

Gary: that is why I specifically said “sailing and racing,” to include all categories of sailors.

All: I was sailing a fiberglass-hull catamaran from 1962 onwards, long before Hobies were invented. It's not like the masses of the world were out there waiting for FRP.

The only reason the "masses" were drawn to catamarans was because of the marketing genius of Hobie Alter and the huge spread he managed to get in Life Magazine.

Obviously, FRP made it possible to build the boats economically, but it is not what made people want the boats and buy the boats.

However, the Hobie phenomenon is over now. Most of the existing beach-cat sailors started on Hobies. We have a closed group, with few new sailors coming in from the outside.

The A-Class cats were the high tech boats of the 1960’s and they sort of went underground during the big Hobie era. The class resurfaced in the mid 1990’s and have been building ever since. Their longevity and their current success is because even though they are a formula class and a development class, they are perceived to be very one-design in terms of the equality of the boats, and they are organized and race like a one-design class.

So I have to repeat my question, but in terms of recent years:
Have technological "advances" in hull construction and sail materials resulted in getting more people involved in sailing and/or racing? (The accent is on MORE people, not just moving the existing people around from boat to boat.)

It's a yes or no answer. (And it might be different depending on what part of the world you are from, so please indicate.)